Footloose (Operation Dragonfire custom)

Most Joe fans can’t stand the DIC produced animated series. There’s good reason not to like it, particularly its second season, which is more unintentionally funny than anything else. The DIC series started strong however, with the Operation Dragonfire mini-series.

The storyline mirrored the Sunbow formula: Cobra creates or discovers device/weapon of Incredible Power and intends to use said device/weapon to Try To Rule The World. In the course of a five episode story arc, the Joes and Cobras face off in various locales around the globe. This time out, it’s an ancient mysterious force within the earth called Dragonfire that Cobra intends to utilize as both a defensive and offensive power. The mini-series is certainly not up to the quality of the better Sunbow episodes, but it’s still a fun diversion, and it’s nice to see some unfamiliar Joes in animated form. Heck, even Long Range makes an appearance. Wow–talk about obscure!

Sgt. Slaughter features prominently as the head Joe honcho in the mini-series, taking the place of a Duke or Flint (although he doesn’t pull a Duke and get captured in episode one). Slaughter’s sub-team, the Marauders make appearances throughout, with Low Light taking on the largest role in the group.

Poor Footloose is relegated to the background for the majority of his time in the show, but his color scheme made an impression on me. Hence the custom. I don’t know why DIC changed the design of the Marauders’ uniforms, but I think it turns out for the better. The Hasbro figures were painted in large jungle camo stripes, with bits of bright blue here and there. The redesign is far more interesting to me, opting for simple two toned camo, but keeping the blue highlights.

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9 comments

Great work! I like these color schemes better than Hasbro’s. Dragonfire wrapped up a few loose ends from the movies and brought back CC at his most buffoonish, but what truly killed the series for me (apart from the whiny voices, horrible music, and sound effects) was Metal-Head. There’s never been a more irritating character in the brand’s cartoon history, far as I’m concerned. Low-Light did add a lot to the proceedings at first with his Eastwood-esque pitch and we had guys like Backblast and Downtown do brief cameos, but Footloose is barely there. Kinda sad after all the screen time he received during the Sunbow era.

I loved the Talking Battle Commander figure and prefer it to the equally nice ’91 “modern JUMP suit” version, but he was portrayed as a joke when compared to the aging, more respectable Hawk from the previous season.

Excellent custom. this figure is far better than the Marauders figure released by Hasbro.

I actually liked the DIC series, despite its often imbecilic nature, and over the top goofiness. the Joe’s from 1990 and 91 were among some of my all time favorites and I loved seeing them in action. I don’t how well the series is going to hold up when I pick up the DVD set this winter, but I’m looking forward to it.
Your Gen. Hawk comment reminds me of episode where Gen. Hawk was replaced by an android that told really bad jokes.